Apple MacBook Pro with Retina review

Benchmarks and hands-on experience

By Frank EveraardtTuesday 19 June 2012 08:16

Introduction

Last week Apple introduced its new MacBook Pro with Retina, and on Friday you were able to read our hands-on preview. Since then we have finished all the tests of Apple's new laptop, and are now able to share with you our in-depth verdict. If you haven't read our preview, we suggest you start there before reading this review.

You quickly get spoiled by the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro. At first you don't pay that much attention to it, but as soon as you use a computer with a more traditional resolution you immediately feel the difference. However, the Retina screen is not without its drawbacks. If you are viewing material that is in less than perfect quality, you will notice it right away. Watching a Full HD film on the Retina screen introduces you to all the imperfections of the image. Animated movies reveal how colours are put together, and normal movies can have a lot of jagged edges. You can compare it to watching a DVD on an HD television. If the imperfections bother you, then you can make the window smaller, which makes them less visible.

If your source material is good, such as photos made with a good digital camera, then the Retina display is unparallelled. You could even say that photos on the new MacBook Pro with Retina look better than on paper.